


remembrance

by transient_transit



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Apocalypse, End of the World, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 06:52:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10565925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transient_transit/pseuds/transient_transit
Summary: The world ends. Junhui and Soonyoung don’t watch.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my small ceramic chicken for always reading my stuff and caring <3

  
**_remembrance_**  
_rɪˈmɛmbr(ə)ns_  


_noun_  
_○ the action of remembering something._  
_○ the action of remembering the dead._  
_○ a memory or recollection._  
_○ a thing kept or given as a reminder or in commemoration of someone or someones._

 

 

 

 

__It’s a quiet night, for once._ _

__Junhui twists his fingers through Soonyoung’s absently as the wind ruffles the trees above them and the moon shines distantly. The sky and the stars are clear and cold, with no more light pollution to compete with._ _

__Soonyoung turns his head towards him, unmindful of the dirt on his cheeks. “How much longer do you think, now?”_ _

__Junhui shrugs. Useless things like watches have long been bargained away for more practical items. “I don’t know. Was there something you wanted to do?”_ _

__Neither of them voice that they had wanted to do anything and everything, before this. Conquer the musical world. Perform on the biggest stage. Write the greatest music. Become legends._ _

__Soonyoung sits up abruptly from beside him and begins digging around in his pockets. Junhui rolls over and makes a questioning noise at him. Soonyoung produces a partly-melted birthday candle, green wax frozen in the act of dribbling down._ _

__“For the others,” he explains. He finds the almost-spent lighter a moment later._ _

__Junhui helps Soonyoung build a tiny mound of dirt around the bottom of the candle to make it stay up, holds it still while he lights it._ _

__It flickers a little in the wind, but doesn’t go out._ _

__Soonyoung licks his lips nervously. He doesn’t speak._ _

__Most of the others died in the initial hit. Junhui, Soonyoung, Hansol, and Seungkwan had been out eating fancy sushi at a famous Japanese restaurant, miles away, when the meteorite struck. Dipping raw fish into soy sauce and enjoying themselves, when the ground near the Pledis building had collapsed, tipping the building into the massive hole. They’d rushed back, pushing as best as they could through the crowd, but the only person to survive had been Chan, pulled out of the wreckage of their dance studio and friends’ bodies, laid out next another thousand dying bodies._ _

__He bled out in their arms, semi-conscious, moaning. Seungkwan tried to sing for him, ease his passing perhaps, but broke down on Hansol’s shoulder. Junhui remembers brushing bloodied bangs away from Chan’s forehead, reaching for his hand only to find it wasn’t there, Soonyoung shaking next to him._ _

__The world was a mess. Meteorites started to hit at least once a week, randomly and with varying degrees of destruction. People demanded food, shelter, explanations, advice, ways to survive. But as far as the scientific community knew, there was neither a way to predict the hits nor a way to stop them._ _

__They did, however, find a large meteoroid en route to a collision with Earth, predicted to arrive in two months’ time._ _

__As the oldest, Junhui stepped up. Tried to be strong, tried to keep up the morale, tried to find food, water, and shelter. Hansol barely spoke anymore, and Seungkwan hadn’t sung another note since Chan. Soonyoung tried, too, but the loss of the others hung over them, constantly loud because they weren’t, constantly present because they weren’t, constantly hollow because they were._ _

__They traded away everything. Everything, except the rings._ _

__When the things ran out, Soonyoung and Junhui danced for their supper for anyone still willing to pay for something as intangible as art._ _

__Then, the crater. They’d been trying to find decent shelter, after their last house had been commandeered by a gang brandishing fists and makeshift knives. Junhui had deemed the situation unsalvageable, had ushered everyone away, unwilling to risk a fight. The whole town had been overrun, so they’d been trying to find the next one._ _

__It was just a moment of fatigue. The sound of dirt scraping against rock. Hansol’s yelp. A crack, then silence._ _

__Seungkwan screamed, then. Made to run for the edge. Soonyoung hauled him back._ _

__Junhui approached the lip of the crater. It was the biggest one he’d seen so far. The looming shadow of the edge shaded the bottom of the pit in darkness._ _

__“Hansol?” he called, over Seungkwan’s sobbing, “Vernonie?”_ _

__No response. Junhui tried to search the darkness for Hansol’s body, was glad when he couldn’t make anything out._ _

__“Junnie, come back from the edge.” Soonyoung, nervous._ _

__They walked on._ _

__At the next town, Junhui received some tuna cans, mouldy bread, and three bottles of water in exchange for his ring. The buyer wanted to propose to his girlfriend “before the end comes, you know?”. A numb smile. Congratulations._ _

__“Did you hurt your hand?” asked Seungkwan a few days later, gesturing towards the strip of cloth wrapped around Junhui’s right pinky._ _

__“Yeah.”_ _

__“Bullshit, hyung, you sold it to the guy who asked a few days ago, didn’t you? That’s where the tuna came from. I know, because nobody anywhere cares about music or dance anymore. Not enough to pay you in something as good as canned tuna.”_ _

__He was right, but it had cut anyway._ _

__“I- Me and Soonyoungie worked to guard the town for the cans-“_ _

__“Then take off the bandage. Show me. Show me the ring.”_ _

__Junhui couldn’t speak, couldn’t meet Seungkwan’s gaze, couldn’t breathe._ _

__“That’s what I thought.”_ _

__He remembers staring at Seungkwan’s retreating figure, remembers wondering if this was a betrayal that could ever be forgiven. He’d traded away the most important thing, in return for food that wasn’t even decent._ _

__Suddenly, it was too much. The vague numbness that had held reality at an arm’s length vanished, and he sobbed for hours that night clinging to Soonyoung’s tattered shirt, trying not to wake Seungkwan, trying to stop wasting water on tears, trying to drown reality out with the slow drag of gentle fingers through his hair._ _

__“Take my ring too,” said Soonyoung, after Junhui’s crying fits had subsided._ _

__Junhui, lying exhausted on his lap, had twisted up to look at his staring eyes. He caught the moving hand in both of his, ran his thumb over the ring he used to own the tredecuplet of._ _

__“I’m your hyung, Soonyoungie,” he whispered, tears threatening to swell again, “keep your ring, you and Kwannie both, let me make the sacrifice.”_ _

__“You’re only older than me by five days,” said Soonyoung, but he had clenched the hand with the ring on it and covered the spot where Junhui’s ring used to sit with the other._ _

__A few days after that, Seungkwan started singing again._ _

__It was a relief that the fight seemed to have brought some life back into him. Junhui was starting to think that he would wither away and vanish._ _

__That evening he came back, crying, carrying more food and more water, mumbling about Chan, about Hansol, about the others. Clinging to each other, Junhui thought that even if he wasn’t forgiven, Seungkwan at least understood._ _

__The singing helped. Seungkwan’s voice is, was, undeniably beautiful. Everyone adored him for his antics and humour, so when paired with Soonyoung and Junhui’s dancing, they managed to get by. It felt just a bit like being Seventeen again, a tiny fragment of what could have been._ _

__The downside was that Seungkwan stopped speaking as much. “My throat hurts,” he explained, “and I have to save it for the singing.”_ _

__Junhui looked at Soonyoung, who looked back. The urge to tell him that he would ruin his voice rose, but what future was there to be had with it, now?_ _

__Soonyoung hadn’t said it, either._ _

__Shortly afterwards, Seungkwan started getting requests. Things were looking up, a little. But he almost never spoke, communicating mostly in gestures— so very different from the Boo Seungkwan they had first met, full of loud words and laughter and playfulness._ _

__Everyone adored him for his humour and antics, so it was a surprise when someone gutted him for his earnings one evening._ _

__Through the blurry haze of grief, Junhui found himself being grateful that Seungkwan had still had his beloved voice before he died. The robber hadn’t seen the ring, either, so they folded his hands around it and left him sitting under a tree, eyes closed, like he was listening to music from his earbuds. They left that town, too._ _

__Junhui is shaken out of his thoughts, brought back to the dirt hill under the bright, bright sky, when Soonyoung clears his throat. A pause. Hesitation, then Soonyoung slips off his ring and clasps it in both hands._ _

__“Choi Seungcheol, Yoon Jeonghan, Hong Joshua, Jeon Wonwoo, Lee Jihoon, Lee Seokmin, Kim Mingyu, Xu Minghao, Boo Seungkwan, Choi Hansol Vernon, Lee Chan. Hello, it’s been a while. It’s Soonyoung.” He laughs a little, bites his lip. “Junnie is here too. Say hi, Junnie.”_ _

__The ring is offered to Junhui. He goes to take it, but changes his mind, wrapping his hands around the other’s instead so that they can talk together._ _

__“Hello,” Junhui manages, but his throat clogs up and suddenly he’s on the verge of tears. Soonyoung strokes his back soothingly, waiting._ _

__“I- I’m sorry. I sold the ring, I’m so sorry, we were meant to be together, you can throw me in the water at Sokcho if you want, I-“ His breath hitches. Soonyoung pulls his head to rest against his chest, rocking them both slowly. The tears squeeze themselves out of Junhui’s eyes, falling onto their clasped hands._ _

__“Junnie, you’re not supposed to say sorry, you’re supposed to say “let’s meet again soon!” and “I miss you!” and tell them what happened since last time, silly. They understand, you’re forgiven, you were just trying your best.”_ _

__Junhui only cries harder. Soonyoung kisses the top of his head, holds him tighter._ _

__“Okay, let’s try again later. Hmm, let’s see. A lot has happened, but we still love you very much and miss you lots and lots. We’ll see you guys again soon! The meteoroid is due tonight, so you’ll be able to do roll call properly again, because four and five will be there to answer.”_ _

__Soonyoung’s voice breaks. Junhui removes one hand to hug him too, to dab at the tears rolling down his cheeks. He holds the ring and Soonyoung’s hand tighter than ever._ _

__“So you guys shouldn’t worry. We’ll definitely meet again. We can make music and dance and play together like we always did. We miss you, please make us cake to celebrate coming back home.”_ _

__It takes Soonyoung three tries to say the word home. Junhui takes more than that to clear his throat enough to speak._ _

__“Yeah, you guys missed me and Soonyoungie’s birthday. We’ll be expecting a lot of gifts when we finally get there, to make up for being so late. I want fried chicken, as well, and ramyeon and bulgogi and jajangmyeon.”_ _

__“Egg tarts,” Soonyoung pipes up, and they both laugh._ _

__Half of the candle has been burned. Melted wax dribbles down dirt mound._ _

__“A-anyway, you guys better give us the welcome back we deserve. We miss you.”_ _

__“So much,” chokes Junhui, and he’s crying again._ _

__“So much,” agrees Soonyoung, rubbing soothing circles into his shoulders, beginning to rock them again, “so very much.”_ _

__Something hits, then, a boom in the distance. Junhui jerks, afraid._ _

__“Don’t look,” whispers Soonyoung, pressing their foreheads together, hand on the back of his neck, “don’t look.”_ _

__Junhui closes his eyes. The heat of the candle warms the bottom of his hand. The ring is digging into the flesh of his palm. It and Soonyoung are the only things that feel real._ _

__The impacts are getting more frequent. The ground is shaking itself apart. The sound of splintering wood roars around them._ _

__Junhui squeezes Soonyoung’s hand._ _

__He feels him squeeze back._ _


End file.
